I realize that when I am faced with a problem on iOS or watchOS, for which I wish there were an automated, “power user” mechanism to simplify it, I reach for Siri and hope for the best.

In this respect Siri fills the gap that is left by the omission of an automating service such as AppleScript.

In different versions of OS X, Apple has introduced ways of bringing “power user”-style automation to regular users. AppleScript is a pretty simplified language, but it’s too much for most people. Automator is very visual, but most people don’t know it exists and wouldn’t necessarily think of the “right” order in which to place the blocks. Even something like the multi-file renaming introduced in Yosemite isn’t entirely intuitive. Something like Siri on OS X could radically simplify everything from the most basic commands to much, much more complex tasks.

Update: Clarified a few sentences, demonstrating why I should not write anything while I’m still waking up.